Musik mot fred

De palestinska myndigheternas ordförande har hedrat den palestinska sång och dansgruppen Alashekeen genom att göra gruppen till ett officiellt nationalband.
Här ett exempel vad gruppen står för:



Band member recites a poem:
"Fight, brother, the flag will never be lowered, the torches will never die out." On [Mt.] Carmel (in Israel) and in the [Jordan] Valley, we are rocks and streams. In Lod (Israeli city) we are poems, and in Ramle (Israeli city) – grenades. We, my brother, shall remain the revolution of the fighting nation."
Vocalist sings: "The Zionists went out from [their] homelands, compounding damage and enmity. But the Palestinian revolution awaits [them]. The orchard called us to the [armed] struggle. We replaced bracelets with weapons. We attacked the despicable [Zionists]. This invading enemy is on the battlefield. This is the day of consolation of Jihad. Pull the trigger. We shall redeem Jerusalem, Nablus and the country."
PA TV broadcast of song: "Bracelets replaced with weapons, pull the trigger" (PMW)

Ett annat exempel på musikunderhållning i palestinsk TV. Denhär sången skrevs på 1940-talet och uppmanar till våld. Sången användes flitigt under intifadan 2000-2005 för att uppmuntra till terrorattacker.
Av någon orsak sände de palestinska myndigheternas TV sången igen senaste vecka.



Official Palestinian Authority television has broadcast a song calling for Jihad and violence against Israel. The PA TV program on culture included an interview with singer Amar Hasan, and the playing of his song: "The oppressors [Israelis] have gone too far. Therefore Jihad is our right... draw your sword." The words call for violence against Israel in the name of both Arab pride and Islam.

Following are the lyrics of the song:
"My brother! The oppressors [Israelis] have gone too far.Therefore Jihad is a right, and self-sacrifice is a right.Shall we let them steal the Arab nature -the patriarchal glory and rule?And only through the sound of the swordThey respond, with voice or echo.Draw from the sheath your sword;And let it not return.My brother, my brother, Oh proud ArabToday is our moment, not tomorrow.My brother, the time of our nation's sunrise has arrived,[the time] for you to repel those who are misledAnd bring renaissance to Islam."
[PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 23, 2010]
PA TV broadcasts song calling for Jihad against Israel (Palestinian Media Watch)

Inga kompromisser från palestiniernas sida

Fatahs revolutionsråd är nu i turen att klart säga ut att man vägrar erkänna en judisk stat. Rådet sammanträdde under veckolutet i Ramallah. Rådet uttryckte också sitt stöd för Abbas linje och flyktingarnas rätt att återvända. Abbas å sin sida klargjorde ännu en gång att han inte återvänder till förhandlingarna om inte ett byggstopp för judar införs i östra Jerusalem.
Det verkar fullkomligt klart att palestinierna inte är det minsta intresserade av en tvåstatslösning som Israel, USA och övriga västvärlden talar om. En judisk stat och en arabisk stat sida vid sida i fredlig samexistens.
Den palestinska versionen verkar vara en arabisk stat utan judar och Israel med inflyttade flyktingar och arabisk majoritet. Två stater för ett folk (araberna) Egentligen skulle det väl bli 22 arabiska stater eller något sånt.
Fatah: No to Israel as Jewish state, no land swaps
"The official said he was disappointed by the council’s statement with respect to a Jewish state.“I would ask the Palestinians the following question: If the Jewish state is fundamentally illegitimate in your eyes, what sort of peace are you offering us? “It is clear that their refusal to recognize the Jewish state’s legitimacy is the true obstacle to peace and reconciliation,” the official added."

Hamasledaren Mashaal uppmanade igen i lördags palestinierna på västbanken att återuppta den "väpnade kampen" mot Israel.
Mashaal calls for armed 'resistance' in West Bank

Fredsforum i Helsingfors

Senaste torsdag ordnade Hakunilan kansainvälinen yhdistys ett fredsforum med ämnet:
"The role of Intellectualls in Promoting Peace"
Emphasis on Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Inbjudna talare enligt programmet var bl.a. fd. utrikesminister Erkki Tuomioja, israeliske historieprofessorn Benny Morris och Dr Assam Tamimi dirctor of Institut of Islamic Political Thought. (Programmet för tillställningen kan ses här:FINNISH ORGANIZATION PROMOTING ‘TOLERANCE’ INVITES SPEAKER WHO CALLS FOR DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL……. )
Hakunilan kansainvälinen yhdistys har enligt sitt program som mål en mångkulturell verksamhet som ökar kunskapen om främmande kulturer samt att förebygga och motverka rasism för att få ett mer tolerant Finland.
("Yhdistyksen tarkoituksena on edistää monikulttuurista toimintaa ja lisätä vieraiden kulttuurien tuntemusta. Yhdistys ennaltaehkäisee ja vastustaa rasismia tavoitteenaan entistä suvaitsevampi Suomi."
"Our objective is to promote the awareness and knowledge of the different cultures and advance multicultural activities in the Finland. We aim for overall tolerance in Finland by applying preventive and antiracist policies.")
Man kan fråga sig vilka motiveringar man hade för att bjuda in Dr Tamimi till ett fredsforum och hur man får Dr Tamimis åsikter att gå ihop med målet att motverka rasism, men utan tvivel ökar kunskapen om främmande kulturer och framför allt om intellektuella muslimers tänkesätt när man hör honom.

Först kommer här ett youtube klipp där Dr Tamimi framför sin synpunkter på bl.a. staten Israel, vilken han anser är att likna vid cancer som måste avlägsnas från mänklighetens kropp.

Därefter ett youtubeklipp från Dr Tamimis tal på ovan nämnda fredsforum där han, för att använda ett milt uttryck, kritiserar de palestinska myndigheterna och försvarar Hamas, och där man får se hur en del åhörare vägrar acceptera att Hamas och Hizzbollah kallas terroristorganisationer. Detta händer alltså i Helsingfors.

I det tredje youtubeklippet är det Benny Morris som talar. Han påtalar den assymetri som finns mellan de intellektuella i Israel och i arabvärlden. De israeliska har påverkat samhället till att acceptera en tvåstatslösning, en stat för judarna och en för araberna. Däremot har de arabiska intellektuella varit de hårdaste motståndarna till en normalisering av förhållandet till Israel, också i länder som Egypten och Jordanien där politikerna har slutit fred med Israel.
Enligt Morris är araberna endast intresserade av rättvisa, dvs det de anser är rättvisa, sanningen har ingen betydelse.

I det fjärde youtubeklippet är det främst Gideon Bolotowsky som talar, bl.a. om den ekonomiska utvecklingen (eller brist på utveckling) i de arabiska länderna.

Tack till Tundra Tabloids för youtubematerialet.

“Human Rights in the Middle East”

Här kan man läsa ett intressant tal av Robert Bernstein, grundaren av Human Right Watch.
Bernstein behandlar och kritiserar bl.a. HRW och andra mänskorättsorganisationers behandling av Israel. Ett långt tal men läsvärt.

“Human Rights in the Middle East”
You may wonder why a man just shy of his 88th birthday would get up at 5 in the morning to fly to Omaha to give a speech. Frankly, since accepting this kind offer, I’ve wondered myself. Here’s why. Having devoted much of my life to trying to make the Universal Declaration of Human Rights come alive in many places in the world, I have become alarmed at how some human rights organizations, including the one I founded, are reporting on human rights in the Middle East.

Anti-israeliska Durbankonferensen skall firas i FN

FN:s generalförsamling har med klar majoritet röstat för att nästa höst fira 10-årsdagen av Durbankonferensen. Durbankonferenssen skulle bekämpa rasism men blev en rasistisk konferens där man riktade in sig på att fördöma Israel. Bl.a USA lämnade konferensen i protest.
Vid uppföljningskonferensen stal Irans president showen och nu har man alltså bestämt att händelserna skall firas.
121 stater röstade för förslaget, 19 emot och 35 stater avstod. Mot röstade bl.a. USA, Tyskland, Storbritannien, Australien, Canada, Sverige och Israel.
Finland som eftersträvar en plats i säkerhetsrådet avstod från att rösta, man måste väl akta sig för att stöta sig med någon. Svagt!
Mer information om vad Durbankonferensen handlar om kan man läsa här.

UN General Assembly votes to commemorate Durban conference

U.N. Pours Salt in America's Wounds
...Most heads of government avoided Durban I and the only one to attend Durban II was the poster-boy for racism and xenophobia himself, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. So for Durban III, the UN decided to ensnare most heads of state and government by scheduling the event to coincide with the annual opening of the UN General Assembly, when they are all present in New York anyway. The resolution sets the date as September 21, 2011 (“the second day of the General Debate”), and specifically designates it as a “High-Level” meeting “at the level of Heads of States and Governments.”
Contrary to some suggestions, the event will not be a quiet commemoration with minimal political design. Amendments made to the resolution late in the day decide that the meeting should “consist…of an opening plenary, consecutive round tables/thematic panels and a closing plenary meeting.” And then the meeting will adopt a final “political declaration.”
Lest anyone be delusional about which country is intended to be the first course at Durban III, the resolution pinpoints only one theme of the Declaration as the meeting’s focal point, namely, “Victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerances: Recognition, Justice and Development.” The carefully crafted Durban Declaration lists Palestinians as “Victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.”
Of course, as history has demonstrated time and again, the meal never ends with the Jews. The Dutch representative valiantly spelled out to the General Assembly committee a bigger picture: “The fight against racism and discrimination is of such importance that we cannot support any effort to redirect our attention towards different agendas. Unfortunately, the Durban Declaration and…Review Conference did so…by elevating the protection of religion above the protection and promotion of human rights and by placing unnecessary restrictions on the freedom of expression…”
In addition, in the resolution the UN puts out a call for help from the world of rabble-rousers who masquerade as human rights enthusiasts. Despite being fully aware of the violent extremism characterizing the NGO Forum at Durban I, the resolution asks “civil society, including NGOs” “to organize and support” 10th anniversary initiatives “with high visibility.”
The Obama administration is clearly worried about the effects of Durban III on its policy of embracing the UN and its human rights apparatus. U.S. representative John Sammis spelled out their concerns, lamenting to the UN committee that the event “risks undermining the relationship we have worked hard to strengthen over the past few years between the United States and the UN.”...

FN och Israel

En rapport från Eye on the UN som ännu en gång visar på vilken låg nivå arbetet inom en del av FN:s olika organ befinner sig.
Terrorism Against Jews Applauded and Promoted at the UN
On November 10, 2010, the UN "Human Rights" Council was engaged in another of its infamous "universal periodic reviews" - this time about human rights protection by Lebanon. For the occasion, Lebanon had produced a report objecting to the creation of the state of Israel. Israel pointed out that, contrary to protecting human rights, Lebanon was actively hosting and collaborating with a terrorist organization. But here is how the UN "human rights" world responded:


On November 15, 2010 the General Assembly’s Fourth Committee adopted nine more resolutions condemning only Israel. In the course of the feeding frenzy, here is what passed for acceptable language in the heart of the UN. Obama administration representatives made no objection to anything said during this verbal assault on the Israeli diplomat - and on the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

SYRIA:
“the Palestinian people, and its legitimate struggle to liberate itself…”
"the rights under occupation to resist the occupier…”
“the occupying power…and its apartheid practices…”
“The violation by Israel of international law is…a provocative act which repeats black pages in the history of modern humanity, particularly that it reminds us of what happened at the beginning of the Second World War in Europe.”
“There is no other terrorism on the surface of the planet like the terrorism committed by Israel. This entity was established on the basis of terrorism.”
“Israel…threatens to use nuclear weapons.”
“The leaders of Israel…are war lovers. They are teachers in provocation. They oppress others. And they send messages of apartheid and racism.”
“Lebanese resistance is not terrorism.”
“There is one single terrorism in the Middle East. It is the Israeli state terrorism.”

LEBANON:
“Hezbollah was only a resistance movement that had the honor to resist the occupation.”
Läs också 'Evidence links Hizbullah to 2005 Hariri assassination'

For more United Nations coverage see http://eyeontheun.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=779a7657507fa1127185b036a&id=3d9886ab27&e=ae630b1485.

På samma sida?

En läsvärd artikel om relationerna mellan Israel och USA av David Horovitz, Jerusalem Post.
Editors Notes: Didn’t we use to be on the same side?
Much more troubling, however, is the growing sense in these past few weeks that the shared interests and values that constituted the basis for those earlier, heartfelt personal relationships is crumbling. As our two leaderships have haggled (and that, unfortunately, is the only word for it) over the terms of a new settlement freeze, our alliance seems to be shriveling into a cold, adversarial contest.In the past, guiding the American-Israel approach to peacemaking with the Palestinians was a wealth of shared goodwill and historical precedent. We were partners, trying together to find the balance of carrots and sticks, to perfect the framework, that would finally draw the immensely, sometimes violently reluctant Palestinians into reducing their maximalist demands to viable terms we all could live with.
US-Israel relations were not an uninterrupted love fest down the decades. The Clinton- Rabin connection was exceptional. Some of the leadership pairings really did take a strong dislike to each other. There were always arguments and disagreements and stark policy differences.But implicit in the partnership, underpinning it, was recognition of the fact that the Jewish state was revived in 1948 because its leadership unhappily accepted a partition of British Mandatory Palestine that left the most resonant places in Jewish history outside our sovereign borders, while an intended Arab entity was not established because the Arab leaderships preferred to try and strangle Israel. Implicit, too, was the fact that Israel, the world’s only Jewish state and the region’s only democracy, had been forced to fight war after war for its survival in the face of implacable enemies bent on its destruction, to endure unprecedented terrorist onslaughts, and to overcome relentless attempts at economic boycott and diplomatic sanction.It was recognized that the territory Israel’s critics now asserted lay at the heart of the conflict – territory to which Israel has an incontrovertible historic claim, and which Israel captured when forced into war – was not even held by Israel between 1948 and 1967. Rather, that very territory was the launching point of Arab efforts to destroy the country.Also implicit in the partnership was the awareness that, while some Israeli governments are more reluctant than others to trade land for peace, no Israeli government has balked at that equation when a credible, dependable Arab peace partner made an appearance. In fact, in recent years, all Israeli governments have shown a readiness to embrace that equation even when the ostensible Palestinian peace partner has fallen some distance short of credibility and dependability.TODAY, THOUGH, that history, those fundamentals, that peacemaking context seem at risk of being forgotten.Negotiating with the Palestinians has proven extraordinarily frustrating these past two decades – their leadership to date has been frequently disingenuous, often murderous and serially rejectionist. But we insist on trying afresh, because we need an accommodation to retain a Jewish, democratic Israel. We do not want to have to live by the sword. We nurture the faint hope that, along with its undoubted desire for statehood, the current Palestinian leadership can yet be persuaded of the virtues of reconciliation ­ the benefits of a future, as Clinton put it in his Times op-ed, ³where cooperation triumphs over conflict."But now, before we can even get to grips with the complexities of negotiating with the Palestinians, we find ourselves head-to-head with Washington, locked in tense negotiating sessions where previously we were often locked in step. Instead of working together to identify areas of leverage, pressure points and incentives for the Palestinians, we are looking for those same opportunities and vulnerabilities in each other.
Läs hela artikeln här.

Raketer från Gaza

Idag har flera raketer avfyrats från Gaza mot Israel. En Grad raket landade i Ofakim och skadade några kor och byggnader.
Dessutom avfyrades Kassamraketer bl.a. fyra som var riktatde mot staden Ashkelon.
Raketattackerna är antagligen ett svar efter att två terrorister i Gaza dödades av Israel för några dagara sedan. Terroristerna hörde till Army of Islam som samarbetar med al-Qaida och de stod i beredskap att utföra en terrorattack. Organisationen varande i går Israel för nya attacker.
Rocket warfare escalates; 3 mortar shells fired at Negev

4 mortar shells fired at Ashkelon area from Gaza

Ännu inget byggstopp

USA och Israel har problem med att få till stånd ett skriftligt avtal som skulle medföra att Israel förlänger byggstoppet på västbanken med 90 dagar.
Israel kräver att Jerusalem inte skall ingå i byggstoppet eftersom det inte var en del av det byggstopp som tog slut i september. USA vill däremot inte uttrycka sig klart på den punkten.
Man måste alltså få till en text som kan tolkas olika beroende på vem som läser det. Är det vad som kallas politik?
Eftersom palestinierna säger att de inte kommer att förhandla om inte Jerusalem ingår i byggstoppet kan man fråga sig varför parterna slösar tid på att få till stånd en överenskommelse som ändå knappast kommer att få palestinierna till förhandlingsbordet.
PM insists he'll win support for freeze; no J'lem deal yet

Byggstopp - fredsförhandlingar?

Palestinierna kräver ett byggstopp för att återvända till förhandlingar med Israel. Nu har Israel och USA kommit överens om villkoren för ett byggstopp men palestinierna motsätter sig överenskommelsen... så vad vill de palestinska ledarna egentligen?
Palestiniernas inställning påminner om arabländernas efters sexdagarskriget: Nej, Nej, Nej.
Nej till fred, nej till förhandlingar, nej till erkännande av Israel.

Enligt de israeliska tidningarna har Israel och USA kommit överens om att Israel går med på ett tremånaders byggstopp i bosättningarna på västbanken. Detta för att förmå palestinierna att komma till förhandlingsbordet.
För att förmå den israeliska regeringen att gå med på byggstopp lovade USA bl.a. att stöda Israel i FN och leverera moderna jaktplan till Israel.
Det är svårt för Netanyahus regering att gå med på byggstopp eftersom regeringen tidigare har lovat att det tiomånader långa byggstoppet som tog slut i september inte skall förlängas.
Enligt Jerusalem Post går överenskommelsen ut på:
- att byggande i östra Jerusalem få fortsätta under byggstoppet
- USA kommer inte att försöka pressa Israel att förlänga byggstoppet ytterligare.
-USA har också lovat att med sitt veto stoppa ensidiga palestinska initiativ i FN:s säkerhtsråd.
-USA stöder tanken att i fredsförhandlingarna skall gränsfrågan behandlas tillsammmans med andra viktiga frågor och inte som en separat fråga.

USA har inte ännu överlåtit överenskommelsen skriftligt till Israel vilket regeringen kräver innan den kommer att rösta om saken. Detta på grund av att palestinierna redan hunnit meddela att de inte kommer att återvända till förhandlingsbordet om byggstoppet inte också gäller Jerusalem.
Vanligt bondförnuft säger att om någon är så motvillig att komma till förhandlingsbordet som palestinierna är så är möjligheterna till en lösning obefintliga.

Palestinians have delayed freeze deal with the US
Palestinian refusal to return to the negotiating table even if a 90-day settlement freeze is in place has delayed the anticipated agreement between Israel and the US for a package of incentives in exchange for such a moratorium, The Jerusalem Post has learned from sources close to the issue.As a result, there is no formal document to date which sets out the terms of the incentive package which was hammered out last Thursday in a day long meeting between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Israeli official: Palestinians trying to foil settlement freeze deal
The Palestinian Authority is trying to thwart understandings between Washington and Jerusalem regarding a package of American incentives that would come in return for a new three-month settlement freeze by Israel, a senior Israeli official said Tuesday.
"The political benefits that Israel would receive as part of the package of understanding with the U.S. are not acceptable to the Palestinians because they ease some of the pressure on Israel and make it impossible for [the Palestinians] to apply their strategy of evading direct talks and of trying to force Israel into an arrangement through UN resolutions," added the official.

Hopp för den muslimska världen?

De muslimska länderna har sedan 1999 i FN:s generalförsamling och FN:s mänskorättsråd arbetat för att begränsa yttrandefriheten, speciellt när det gäller kritik av islam. Detta har bl.a. försvårat situationen för oliktänkare i de muslimska länderna och bromsar även utvecklingen mot demokrati.
World Evangelical Alliance har skrivit en rapport om ämnet:
Efforts on to Weaken Hope in Muslim World
Läs också: Kritik av islam förbjuds?

Några citat från WEA rapporten:
Islamic countries have opposed reforms under the garb of fighting “Islamophobia” for over a decade. They have overseen the passage of numerous resolutions against “defamation of religions” at the United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Council since 1999 seeking legitimacy for and promoting restriction of the freedom of speech in nations. This month, they are putting forward another such resolution for voting at the General Assembly which can have serious ramifications for the freedom of expression and religion especially in the Muslim world.
A group of 57 states with large Islamic populations, known as the Organization of the Islamic Conference, has introduced resolutions condemning defamation of religions at the UN every year. These declarations – which allege a systematic attack on Islam after the 9/11 attacks in the US – urge governments around the world to enact special laws to ban any speech that would insult, criticize or offend any person’s religion, particularly Islam. Though non-binding thus far, these resolutions are gradually empowering Islamic governments to oppose the growing demand for democracy and associated rights by their people besides paving the way for a legally binding international ban on criticism of religion...

...Even as large sections of Muslims are striving to bring change in their nations, the UN resolutions led by the Islamic Conference give more teeth to the State for religious repression and even greater political and social control, undermining those who want to promote democracy and tolerance. Since there is no one, acceptable-by-all definition of defamation of religions, the inevitable ambiguity can be exploited by Islamic regimes to resist even legitimate, democratic political opposition.
There is little room for doubt that the forces that are pushing the issue of defamation of religions at the UN actually want to resist demands by the modern world as well as by its own people and minorities for democracy and rights, including religious freedom. Also visible is their agenda against Muslim minorities, converts and reformers – the three entities Islamist groups and regimes hate the most.
However, as rights groups are lobbying UN member states, the support for the resolutions is constantly declining. Therefore, more non-Islamic Conference nations need to be briefed about the real intent behind these motions and the possible outcomes of their passage. Only then will it be possible to defeat the declarations each time they come up for voting.
This should be done urgently because the resolutions on defamation of religions also seek to export blasphemy laws to other countries, including in the West. While religious freedom is seen as belonging to an individual in the developed world, these decrees want religion itself to have rights – violating the very basis on which human rights stand.

This report was researched and written by Fernando Perez, and can be used with attribution to WEA-RLC

Röda Korset- Henri Dunant- Israel

En läsvärd artikel av Tomas Sandell i Wall Street Journal : Obsessed With Israel
Skulle Henri Dunant, en kristen sionist, fortfarande vara välkommen i Röda Korset som han grundade?

Last week marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Henri Dunant—the Red Cross founder who brought humanitarian laws to the battlefield. It is doubtful, though, whether the world's first Nobel Peace prize recipient would today still feel at home in his organization, or in similar human-rights bodies for that matter.
It's not just Dunant's Christian faith, which played an instrumental part in his humanitarian work, that would be at odds with today's post-Christian Red Cross officials. In the same small reformed church that commemorated his death last week, Dunant first learned about social responsibility as well as spiritual discipline.
But what would make Dunant really suspect in the eyes of modern human-rights activists is the fact that he was a Zionist. Already in 1867, almost 30 years before Theodor Herzl published "Der Judenstaat," his vision of a Jewish state, Dunant backed Jewish immigration to their ancestral homeland in Palestine. Dunant was one of only a few gentiles to attend the first Zionist congress in Basel in 1897. As was the case with other past Christian social reformers, like William Wilberforce 100 years before him and Martin Luther King 100 years after him, Dunant's support for the revival of the Jewish state went hand in hand with his work for other social causes.
Läs hela artikeln här

Abbas firar minnet av Arafat

Mahmoud Abbas upprepade vilka krav han ställer på Israel idag vid en ceremoni för att ihågkomma Arafats död.
En palestinsk stat fria från bosättningar (alltså ingen judisk bosättning på de palestinska områdena), Jerusalem som huvudstad och rätt för flyktingarna att återvända till sina hem.
Abbas klargjorde också att han inte kan erkänna Israael som en judisk stat eftersom det bl.a. skulle försvaga flyktingarnas rättigheter.
Alltså Israel skall vara öppet för alla men i den palestinska staten har judar inget att göra. Palestinierna har rätt till en egen stat men judarna har det inte enligt Abbas.
Abbas säger också att skapa fred är viktigare än något annat men samtidigt säger han att han inte kommer att förhandla med Israel förrän de går med på hans krav på ett totalt byggstopp i bosättningarna och Jerusalem (som han betraktar som en bosättning).
Abbas är en motsägelsefull man.
'Making peace is more important than everything else'

Mellanösternkonflikten

UNESCO blandar sig i politik (uppdaterad)

Här kan man lära sig lite historiska fakta som visar hur absurt UNESCO:s försök att omskriva historien är. På arabländernas förslag beslöt UNESCO för några veckor sedan att Rakels grav är en moské trots att den aldrig varit någon moské, och Rakels grav både bland muslimer och judar under århundraden betecknats som just "Rakels grav". Det var först 1996 som de palestinska muslimska myndigheterna började hänvisa till platsen som en moské ( Mosque of Bilal ibn Rabah) men tydligen är det tillräckligt för att UNESCO skall kunna bortse från månghundraåriga traditioner.
Turkiets premiärminister Erdogan har också gett sin syn på saken. Enligt honom har Rakels grav aldrig varit, och kommer aldrig att bli en judisk plats utan den är islamsk.( al-Wattan Mars 7, 2010, Saudi-Arabien)
Tydligen känner Erdogan inte till sitt eget lands historia eller så bryr han sig helt enkelt inte om fakta. Redan 1830 utfärdade nämligen de turkiska myndigheterna följande skrivelse, som sändes från guvernören i Damaskus till muftin i Jerusalem:"Additionally, the governor of Damascus sent a written order to the Mufti of Jerusalem to fulfill the Sultan's order.
This is our order to you: (the following matter) was submitted to us by the subject of our order, the sage representative of honored Jerusalem's Jewry and his translator that the tomb of esteemed Rachel, the mother of our Lord Joseph...they (the Jews) are accustomed to visit it from ancient days; and no one is permitted to prevent them or oppose them (from doing) this....It turned out that at this holy site, they have been visiting since ancient times, without any person preventing them or trespassing on their property and they (have it) as was their custom. In accordance with the respected judgment, I order that our commandment be issued to you so you will treat them accordingly without addition or without subtraction, without hindrance and without opposition to them by anyone in any way whatsoever - written August 10, 1830."

Rachel's Tomb, a Jewish Holy Place, Was Never a Mosque

Until 1996, nobody called Rachel’s Tomb a mosque (Jerusaelm Post)
On October 21, UNESCO (the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) declared that Rachel’s Tomb near Jerusalem is the Bilal ibn Rabah mosque – endorsing a Palestinian claim that first surfaced only in 1996 and which ignores centuries of Muslim tradition.In a series of decisions condemning Israel, the UNESCO board called upon the government to rescind its decision in February to include Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron on Israel’s official list of national heritage sites. The sharp protests by Ambassador to UNESCO Nimrod Barkan to the UN body’s decision were expunged from the record by the chairman of the session, the Russian representative, on the pretext that they were too aggressive.
A scrupulous examination of testimonies and historical sources demonstrates that defining Rachel’s Tomb as a mosque does an injustice to facts and traditions anchored in both Muslim documents and Jewish sources, and constitutes distortion, bias and deception. As opposed to the Temple Mount and the Cave of the Patriarchs, which also serve as the location of mosques, Rachel’s Tomb never served as a mosque for the Muslims. The Muslim connection to the site derives from its relation to Rachel and has no connection to Bilal ibn Rabah, Muhammad’s first muezzin.
Läs hela artikeln här.

UNRWA and the code of silence

UNRWA and the code of silence , en artikel i Jerusalem Post som behandlar UNRWA, FN:s flyktingorgan för enbart palestinier.

"One of the first rules of being an UNRWA official is omerta. Above all the code of silence means refusing to tell two truths. First is the truth about UNRWA. It is a key mechanism that keeps Palestinians “refugees” over 60 years after their ancestors’ flight during the Arab war against the creation of the State of Israel. It is internationally funded, to the tune of $1.23 billion for 2010-2011, but since it is run by Palestinians, it is a tool for reproducing their sense of grievance against Israel and the West, and a unique culture of dependence and entitlement with respect to the world.The second thing UNRWA officials need to learn is to never, ever tell Palestinians the truth that they are not going back to their ancestors’ homes in what is now Israel. That pipe dream underlies the entire Palestinian sense of grievance and perhaps of self.Recently, for perhaps only the third time in UNRWA history, a high official let the truth slip. In a speech to an Arab-American group, Andrew Whitley, outgoing head of UNRWA’s New York office, stated the obvious, “We recognize, as I think most do, although it’s not a position that we publicly articulate, that the right of return is unlikely to be exercised to the territory of Israel to any significant or meaningful extent... It’s not a politically palatable issue, it’s not one that UNRWA publicly advocates, but nevertheless it’s a known contour to the issue.”UNRWA’s reaction was swift, saying “UNRWA unequivocally distances itself from the statements made by the director of its office in New York, Andrew Whitley, at the National Council on US-Arab Relations in Washington on October 22, 2010. These statements in no way reflect the policies or positions of the agency and are the personal views of Mr. Whitley.”Unfortunately, Whitley came under such pressure from his former employer as a result of his comments that he publicly apologized for the error of his ways, stating that his comments were “inappropriate and wrong.”To allay all doubt, he added that he “wish[ed] to put this letter on the public record out of concern that what I said in Washington could be interpreted in ways that negatively affect the reputation and work of UNRWA.”So dedicated is UNRWA to lying to the Palestinians, perhaps as a function of maintaining its own role as their permanent caretaker, that it is willing to slap one of its own officials in public and even make him retract. The same thing happened in 2009 when James Lindsay, UNRWA’s former general counsel, wrote a critical report on the organization for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Among other things Lindsay criticized UNRWA’s continued employment of known terrorists and continuing politicization of the “refugee” issue...
...SOMETIMES UNRWA will simply deny its internal critics even existed. In 1952 Lt.-Gen. Sir Alexander Galloway, a noted British soldier-diplomat who was then UNRWA director in Jordan, made what was to become a famous statement to a group of visiting American church leaders: “It is perfectly clear than the Arab nations do not want to solve the Arab refugee problem. They want to keep it as an open sore, as an affront against the United Nations and as a weapon against Israel. Arab leaders don’t give a damn whether the refugees live or die.”...
...For his honesty, Galloway was fired at the demand of the Jordanian government, which wanted UNRWA to hire local citizens instead of foreign nationals. Indeed, since that time UNRWA has done the precise opposite of what Galloway recommended, opting for the “tempting political maneuver” of lying to Palestinians about the future, never demanding that host countries resettle Palestinians and instead becoming the Palestinian ministries of health, welfare, education and, to an astonishing degree, foreign affairs.Through a strange series of events historians and journalists transformed Lt.-Gen. Sir Alexander Galloway into “Ralph Galloway,” which has permitted UNRWA officials to this day to deny that any such person ever existed.

Hamas ledares syn på framtiden

Judarna kommer snart att vara bortdrivna från Palestina säger Hamas ledaren Mahmoud Zahar. På samma sätt som judarna sparkades ut ur Frankrike, Storbritannien, Belgien, Ryssland och Tyskland kommer de att drivas bort från Palestina.
Enligt Zahar är judarna kriminella och de fördrevs från Europa för att de stal, bedrog och korrumperade de europeiska staterna.
Zahar: Jews will soon be expelled from Palestine

Gruppen Islamska Jihad har firat sin 23-års dag och dess ledare Ramadan Shallah klargjorde i Damaskus att " hela Palestina är vårt och vi kommer aldrig att acceptera en lösning som begränsar oss till 1967 års gränser".

Förbereder de palestinska myndigheterna folket för fred?

Läs Palestinian Media Watchs senaste rapport och avgör själv om de Palestinska myndigheterna under ledning av Abbas förbereder folket för en tvåstatslösnig och fredlig samexistens med Israel och judarna.
Hela rapporten kan läsas här: PMW Incitement Watch
Ett sammandrag finns här:
Is the Palestinian Authority preparing its people for peace?
PMW Incitement Watch looks at the PA during the peace talks, July - August 2010
by Itamar Marcus, Nan Jacques Zilberdik and Barbara Crook

Introduction
The start of the proximity talks in May 2010 created hope for the renewal of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas declared that the PA would fulfill its commitments, with special focus on stopping incitement.
Findings
However, the first four months, May-August, brought no changes in the quality of the messages being transmitted from the Palestinian Authority and Fatah to Palestinians. An examination of the Palestinian leaders' statements, official media, children's programs and PA and Fatah- controlled events reveals the following: The conditions, principles and expectations set by the US and the Quartet for accepting the Palestinian Authority as a partner in the peace process continue to be violated by the Palestinian Authority. Contrary to the PA's moderate statements to the West, its statements to its people in Arabic continue to delegitimize Israel's existence, deny Israel's right to exist, define the conflict with Israel in religious terms, promote hatred through demonization and libels, and glorify terror and violence:
The PA continues to teach on PA educational TV that Israeli cities across the entire country, including Jaffa and Haifa, are Palestinian cities.
The official PA media deny Israel's right to exist by using terminology that refers to Israel as "Palestinian Interior" and "the homeland occupied in '48."
Maps used by the PA still erase and replace Israel with "Palestine."
The conflict with Israel is defined by PA-appointed political and religious leaders not as territorial but as a religious conflict, sometimes even as Ribat - religious war.
The PA continues to demonize Israelis and Jews:
PA daily: Israel spreads drugs among Palestinian youth.
PA TV and daily: Israel killed Arafat
The PA continues to honor terrorists and glorify violence:
PA TV: "The Martyr who bears arms threatens the enemy."
PA summer camps teach kids "the culture of resistance [violence], the culture of stones and guns"

Israelvänlig websida angeps av hackers

Israel-tieto yhdistys websida som sprider information om Israel i Finland utsattes igår för angrepp från hackers. Sidan är för tillfället stängd efter angreppet.

Suomalaishakkerit sikailivat Israel-sivustolla
Suomessa Israel-myönteistä tietoa levittävän Israel-tieto ry:n nettisivut ovat joutuneet suomalaishakkerien hyökkäyksen kohteeksi. Perjantaiaamuna sivulla näkyy pelkkää valkoista, mutta torstai-illasta lähtien sivuja sotkettiin urakalla. Keinoja sivuille tunkeutumiseen leviteltiin keskusteluryhmissä, joilla rikolliset myös kehuskelivat tekosillaan.
(Tietokone-lehti)

Israel-tietoa jakavalle nettisivulle hyökättiin (Ilta Sanomat)
Israel-tieto ry:n nettisivuille on tehty rasistinen hyökkäys.Israelin kulttuurin, politiikan ja talouselämän tietämystä Suomessa jakavalle sivulle on ilmestynyt herjaavaa materiaalia.

UNRWA chef tvingas be om ursäkt

UNRWA chefen Andrew Whitley som för en tid sedan uttlade det självklara: Att de palestinska flyktingarnas ättlingar måste förberedas på att de inte kommer att få flytta/återvända till Israel har nu tvingats be om ursäkt för sitt uttalande. (återvända är fel ord eftersom flyktingarnas barn aldrig bott i Israel)
Så fungerar det i FN, inget utrymme för vettiga uttalanden utan politik , politik , politik som långt styrs av arab/muslimländerna.

UNRWA New York Director apologises and retracts comments on right of return

UNRWA New York Director apologises and retracts "inappropriate and wrong" comments on the right of return and again underlines they don't represent the views of UNRWA
3 November 2010

Dear Mr. Gunness,
I am writing following my realisation – from media reports, statements and letters from individuals, organisations and governments – that part of the remarks I delivered at a conference in Washington hosted by the National Council on US – Arab Relations, on 22 October, 2010, were inappropriate and wrong. Those remarks did not represent UNRWA’s views.
I express my sincere regrets and apologies over any harm that my words may have done to the cause of the Palestine refugees and for any offence I may have caused. I have spent much of my long career working for the Palestinian people, and defending their rights, in different professional capacities. It is definitely not my belief that the refugees should give up on their basic rights, including the right of return.
I wish to put this letter on the public record out of concern that what I said in Washington could be interpreted in ways that negatively affect the reputation and work of UNRWA, an organisation I have been proud to serve since July 2002. The Agency is at liberty to use my statement in whatever ways it sees fit. There is no need for a reply.
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Whitley

Palestinsk barn TV

I ett palestinskt TV-program för barn presenterade man norra Israel som ockuperat område.






Northern Israel called"1948 lands" and "occupied territories"on PA TV kids program

by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook (Palestinian Media Watch)

A children's program on official Palestinian Authority television presents Northern Israel to Palestinian children as "occupied territories" and "1948 lands."
A recent episode of The Best Home on PA TV takes a group of children on a trip to Tiberias and the Galilee in Northern Israel. During a break, the kids are told that they are on "occupied land" and "1948 land," the PA's way to describe all of Israel as "occupied" since its founding in 1948. The children are never told they are in Israel, and when referring to places in Israel, the PA TV host says "How beautiful our land is."In the Golan Heights, the children are told by the Israeli-Arab guide that they are "at the exact border between Palestine and Syria," again portraying a world in which Israel doesn't exist and is replaced by "Palestine."As Palestinian Media Watch has reported, teaching children that all of Israel is "Palestine," "1948 lands" and "occupied territories" is an essential component of the PA's education to deny Israel's legitimacy and existence. PA-controlled media and Palestinian academics likewise routinely refer to all of Israel, including such Israeli cities as Jaffa and Haifa, as Palestinian cities, or as "occupied."

Click to see more examples of the PA's denial of Israel's right to exist.



Following is the transcript from the program.
"We're on a trip in the 1948 lands. On our right is Baqa Al-Gharbiya (village in Israel) , the land [home] of many friends of our program. We're on our way [to see] many beautiful areas so that you can get to know them and see how beautiful our land is, and how many beautiful places it has -- beautiful villages and cities. We're in the north of the occupied lands, the 1948 lands (Israel), on the Lebanese border."Tour guide: "We're now at the Golan Heights border (inside Israel). We are at the exact border between Palestine and Syria."
[PA TV (Fatah), Oct. 22, 2010

UNESCO omskriver historien

Israel fördömer UNESCO:s beslut senaste vecka där man på arabländernas förslag säger att Patriarkernas grav och Rakels grav är palestinska moskéer.
"Om inte platserna där den judiska nationens fäder och mödrar är begravda för 4000år sedan, Abraham, Isak, Jakob, Sara, Lea och Rakel, hör till det judiska kulturarvet vad hör då dit, frågar premiärminister Netanyahu."

UNESCO and the cradle of Jewish history

Israel slams 'absurd' UNESCO decision on Jerusalem, West Bank holy sites

UN Org.: Rachel's Tomb is a Mosque

Nobelpristagare mottsätter sig bojkott

En grupp på 38 Nobelpristagare har undertecknat ett uttalande där de bestämt tar avstånd från den akademiska bojkott som från olika håll riktas mot Israel.

Statement of Nobel Laureates on Academic BDS Actions Against Israeli Academics, Israeli Academic Institutions and Academic Centers and Institutes of Research and Training With Affiliations in Israel

Believing that academic and cultural boycotts, divestments and sanctions in the academy are:

* antithetical to principles of academic and scientific freedom,
* antithetical to principles of freedom of expression and inquiry, and
* may well constitute discrimination by virtue of national origin,

We, the undersigned Nobel Laureates, appeal to students, faculty colleagues and university officials to defeat and denounce calls and campaigns for boycotting, divestment and sanctions against Israeli academics, academic institutions and university-based centers and institutes for training and research, affiliated with Israel.

Furthermore, we encourage students, faculty colleagues and university officials to promote and provide opportunities for civil academic discourse where parties can engage in the search for resolution to conflicts and problems rather than serve as incubators for polemics, propaganda, incitement and further misunderstanding and mistrust.

We, and many like us, have dedicated ourselves to improving the human condition by doing the often difficult and elusive work to understand complex and seemingly unsolvable phenomena. We believe that the university should serve as an open, tolerant and respectful, cooperative and collaborative community engaged in practices of resolving complex problems.

Namnen på undertecknarna finns här.

38 Nobel winners slam academic boycotts against Israel